


with me, now and always

by diasterisms



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Action/Adventure, Established Relationship, F/M, Parents Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Reylo Children
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-08-19
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:42:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24901012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diasterisms/pseuds/diasterisms
Summary: "It was a mistake to bring Tristan with us," Kylo muttered. "He is too hotheaded, too eager to follow his own whims—""Reminds you of someone, doesn't it?" Rey quipped, burying her face in his chest.Kylo's hand slid downwards and pinched her backside in admonishment. Rey giggled against the front of his black tunic."Atta,"said a haughty voice from the top of the ship's ramp, "if you're quite finished groping my mom, there's a communique from the Hapes Cluster waiting on the dashboard."A mini-adventure set fifteen years after the events oflandscape with a blur of conquerors.
Relationships: Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 411
Kudos: 1783
Collections: F@$k Cancer in the Ass (For a Good Cause)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back to the LWABOC universe! I'm so happy to be writing in it again and I hope you guys enjoy this glimpse into how Emperor Benjamin Chewbacca Solo and Empress Kira Ka Djo, Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium, have been doing since we last saw them in the epilogue. Needless to say, you will need to have read that story to understand what's going on here. Feedback would be much appreciated and, as always, you can follow me on [Tumblr](https://kylorenvevo.tumblr.com/) and [Twitter](http://twitter.com/kylorenvevo) for updates.

_**59 ABY** _

_**The Esstran sector** _

The problem with the Solo men, Rey decided, was that they were entirely too much alike. That often left her caught in the middle, pushing her woefully inadequate diplomatic capabilities to the limit.

"You should have waited for my signal." White-faced with fury, Kylo paced up and down the grimy lounge area of the _Millennium Falcon_ like a panther trapped in a cage. "Now the Sith Eternal know that we've infiltrated Dromund Kaas and _your sister is still out there."_

"Allana will be fine." Tristan spoke in a bored drawl that was completely at odds with his present circumstances, lying on the couch while Rey channeled healing energy into the massive laceration in his side. "You coddle her too much."

"I coddle _you_ too much," Kylo snapped. "Evidently I've been remiss in my duties to teach you basic life skills, such as following simple instructions—"

"How was I supposed to know that there were more darksiders crawling around?" Tristan interrupted with a spark of his father's temper.

"That was _precisely_ why we were reconnoitering," Kylo replied through gritted teeth. "So we could assess how many enemy combatants there were and account for each and every variable."

"It was taking too long," Tristan muttered.

Kylo stopped pacing and narrowed his eyes at his son and heir. "We have traveled from one end of the galaxy to the other on this rust-addled pile of garbage—"

"I mean, I personally think she's in fine shape for her age," Rey said under her breath, offended on the _Falcon'_ s behalf as another inch of Tristan's wound was sewn shut by the Force.

"— this rust-addled pile of garbage that your mother inexplicably loves," Kylo corrected without missing a beat, "and we have spent _days_ planning this mission to stop a cult of fanatic darksiders from freeing one of the most powerful Sith lords to ever exist from her eternal prison— and you complain that _it was taking too long to scout the area?"_

"All right, that's enough," Rey said before Tristan could formulate another one of his trademark snide retorts. "Ben, your son wanted to impress you with the new lightsaber maneuvers I've been teaching him. Tristan, your father's had a nasty scare because he loves you more than life itself and he nearly failed to get you out of there in one piece."

"I _did_ fail to get him out of there in one piece," Kylo said with a pointed look at Tristan's side that had been carved up by a double-bladed war sword.

"And that's why he's so mad," Rey told Tristan serenely. With a final burst of healing energy pouring from her fingertips, the last of his wound disappeared. "Now, apologize to each other."

Kylo glowered down at the floor. Tristan scowled up at the ceiling.

"Sorry," they both grunted at the same time.

Rey bit back a smile. It was a very good thing that the Solo men were also alike in that she could always get them to do as she commanded. She rose to her feet and, after telling her son to get some rest, made her way out of the _Falcon._ Kylo trailed after her. For several long moments they stood in silence at the base of the ramp, studying their surroundings.

They had borrowed Han's old ship from Chewbacca because an Empire or Consortium vessel spotted sailing along the Kamat Krote would have raised too many questions. In keeping with this protocol of subterfuge, they had docked in the middle of a swamp, far away from the Sith Eternal's fortress. Massive black trees formed leafy, vine-infested canyons over the murky water, raising gnarled branches to a perpetually clouded sky that sparked with lightning every few seconds.

There was no sign of Allana.

Rey fiddled with her comlink, resisting the urge to try and make contact. Dromund Kaas' charged air interfered with the frequencies; some messages got through, but it was a luck-based endeavor more often than not. There was also no way to ascertain where her daughter was now; an overheard communique might give away her position and endanger her life. Her last message had stated that she'd found what she believed was the Lair of the Ghost and she was going in to investigate.

Rey glanced over at Kylo. In the silvery gloom, his face was paler than usual. He looked, in short, like a man who'd watched his son almost get killed and whose daughter's fate was currently a question mark on a planet teeming with so much dark energy that its very atmosphere vomited static. Rey would have been lying if she said she wasn't anxious, too, but over two decades of being the Queen Mother of a court as fraught as the Hapes Consortium had taught her how to keep a tight lid on her composure even in the most stressful of situations.

Over two decades of being the Emperor of the known galaxy had not done the same for Kylo, however, which made it all the more imperative for her to remain calm.

"Let's give it another thirty minutes," Rey quietly suggested. "If Allana's not back by then, we'll head to the coordinates she sent."

Kylo's brow wrinkled. "Why can't we go now?"

"It's almost impossible to comm with the frequencies on the blink like this. I don't want her to successfully retrieve the Heart of Akure only to return to this spot and find us gone."

"She should have waited for you to get to her location instead of going in alone."

"She should have," Rey agreed. "You can scold her for that later."

"Maybe I will," Kylo huffed.

Rey smirked, knowing that her husband would rather take on all the combined forces of the Sith Eternal by himself than scold his firstborn. She sidled closer, wrapping an arm around his waist; in response, he draped his own arm over her shoulders, nuzzling at her hair.

"It was a mistake to bring Tristan with us," he muttered. "He is too hotheaded, too eager to follow his own whims—"

"Reminds you of someone, doesn't it?" she quipped, burying her face in his chest.

Kylo's hand slid downwards and pinched her backside in admonishment. Rey giggled against the front of his black tunic.

_"Atta,"_ said a haughty voice from the top of the ship's ramp, "if you're quite finished groping my mom, there's a communique from the Hapes Cluster waiting on the dashboard."

"Why are you on your feet?" Kylo demanded, untangling himself from Rey. "You're still recovering from your injury. You should be lying down."

Tristan rolled his hazel eyes and disappeared back into the _Falcon'_ s interior.

"That kid, I swear..." Kylo grumbled under his breath, looking for a moment like such a harried and put-upon _old man_ that Rey had to snort. At fifty-three years of age, her husband had diligently maintained his broad, athletic frame, and his lush hair was still mostly black— with a few streaks of silver that were rather fetching, if she did say so herself— but there were times when his crankiness gave Luke's a run for its money, and it always amused Rey to no end.

The imperial couple entered the cockpit and Rey pulled up the transmission that was causing a light on the communications panel to blink. Prince Isolder's holo materialized, looking even more harried and put-upon than Kylo.

_**"Rey, dearest,"** _ he said gravely, _**"it is with a heavy heart that I must announce I am hereby tendering my resignation as grandfather to your offspring."** _

Rey blinked. "What's wrong, _Atta?"_

_**"There are eight of them!"** _ Isolder hissed. _**"One is tearing up the flowers in the garden, the second is running around with a power drill, the third is prank-calling the Galactic Senate, the fourth is painting mustaches on the portraits in the Hall of Masters—"** _

Rey winced. "I'm sorry that Cade and Maia are being a handful. Could you put them on?"

Isolder turned his head towards a point off-screen, calling out the aforementioned names. It wasn't long before a pair of freckled, wavy-haired, eerily identical faces appeared above the communications panel, tinted in bluish light, and all the way from the other side of the galaxy the five-year-old Solo-Djo twins burst into glad cries at the sight of their parents' holos.

Kylo leaned over Rey's shoulder, raising an eyebrow at his youngest children. "What's this I hear about the two of you misbehaving?"

_**"We're not,"** _ the twins chorused.

_**"Grandfather is a liar,"** _ said Cade.

_**"A lying liar who lies,"** _ Maia added fervently.

Rey could hear Isolder sputtering in the background.

Kylo sighed. "Look, your mother and I will be back soon. If you refrain from terrorizing the household until then, we'll take you to K'Farri, to see the crystals. They're currently in bloom. Would you like that?"

The twins nodded.

"Does this mean you're going to be good?"

Two heads bobbed again in unison.

"Perfect," said Kylo. "I'll let you continue with your day, then. Kiss your mother goodbye."

Cade and Maia obediently blew kisses at Rey, who returned them with a wide smile. Isolder signed off, the last image from the Fountain Palace that of the twins earnestly trying to climb up his shoulders like a pair of eager beek-monkeys.

"Stars, I miss them," Rey said wistfully. Her last pregnancy had been a shock— and not without its risks, considering that there were _two_ of them and she'd already been in her late thirties— but if she had to do it all over again, it would be without the slightest trace of hesitation.

Kylo bent down to press his soft lips to her forehead, a wordless comfort that she was glad to accept.

By the thirty-minute mark, however, Rey was feeling a lot less comforted and a lot more _worried._

"We have to go," Kylo said in a tone that brooked no argument, sliding into the pilot seat of the _Millennium Falcon._

Rey nodded, dropping down into the chair beside his. As they hurried through the preflight checks, Tristan poked his head into the cockpit.

"We're going to Allana?" he asked.

"Yes," Kylo confirmed. "She might need backup."

"I mean, she _has_ backup," Tristan pointed out. "She's not _entirely_ alone. Her _boyfriend_ is with her."

Kylo's right eye twitched dangerously.

*

The cave system was winding and ancient, its black walls flecked with Corusca gems that blazed in the light of a torch wielded by a tall, slim figure in a white cloak, her dark hair flowing down her back in a rich, glossy curtain. She moved slowly and carefully, inching her way deeper and deeper into the bowels of the labyrinth without a sound, cataloging every twist and turn that she made. If this _wasn't_ the Lair of the Ghost that the Hapan spy legions had talked about and she ended up getting lost in it, the embarrassment would haunt her until the end of her days.

Allana had had enough of hauntings, thank you very much.

But she _knew_ that she was on the right track. The dark side of the Force was concentrated in these tunnels, washing over her like waves of ink. Through their haze was the jagged glow of a strange, brilliant power, beckoning her onwards like siren song. After making planetfall, the imperial family had split up— Tristan and their father to get the lay of the cult's fortress, Allana and their mother to look for an artifact called the Heart of Akure that was the only thing that could stop Nyriss' awakening, according to an Old Republic report on Dromound Kaas that had been authored by a Jedi from that era.

Said Jedi had neglected to go into detail about what the Heart of Akure actually _was,_ or where exactly it was located. _In the Lair of the Ghost,_ they'd written.

As if Allana needed any more ghosts in her life.

She stepped into a new branch of the cave system— and froze when the stone dipped slightly beneath her right foot. A swarm of wickedly sharp metal darts came hurtling at her from out of the darkness. Allana spun on her heel, Force energy swirling around her from head to toe, a crackling barrier that disintegrated the darts as soon as they touched it, tiny shards of metal drifting to the floor of the tunnel in a fine silver dust. But more kept coming, and she couldn't maintain this type of shield for long—

A voice as cold and as sharp as ice whispered in her ear. _"Na-hah ur su ka-haat, su ku haru aat."_

The realization of what she had to do slipped into her mind like a dagger slipping in between the ribs.

She repeated the words out loud, the guttural language of the Sith rolling off of her tongue far more smoothly than she was prepared for. The darts stopped coming, the last of them crashing against her Force barrier and into nothingness.

The Hapan _Chume'da_ exhaled in relief, and continued on her way.

But she was no longer alone. Someone was behind her, moving even more silently than she was. Maybe if she ignored him, he'd leave again...

"What, not even a 'thank you'?" The deep, silvery tones were tinged with amusement.

Allana rolled her eyes. "You didn't help me out of the goodness of your heart," she stiffly told the air in front of her. "If I die, our connection is severed and you won't have anyone left to annoy."

"Couldn't it be that I've grown fond of you, Your Grace?"

"Pull the other one, it's got bells on."

"You wound me."

Allana whirled around, only to find her nose mere inches away from a black-robed chest. She took a step back, lifting her chin to glare at the tall, lean figure smirking down at her. For someone who'd died thousands of years ago, Sansin Koriss was exceedingly handsome and, what was worse, he acted like he knew it. His perennially arrogant demeanor never failed to set her teeth on edge.

"Look here," Allana hissed, "I'm on a very important mission and I can't have you distracting me, so just— just go float away, or something—"

"Darling, you know I don't float," Sansin murmured, a teasing glint in his gray eyes.

Her fists clenched at her sides from how much she wanted to strangle him. She turned away and resumed walking, albeit a little more _stompily_ than before. "I should never have opened that holocron."

"But then we would never have met."

"My point exactly."

He fell silent. She wondered, with a stab of guilt, if she'd hurt his feelings— if a ghost even _had_ feelings in the first place. A year had passed since she explored the Tascollan Nebula and found the Sith Empire holocron, communing with it out of sheer curiosity. Something had happened that had bound one of the three gatekeepers to her, and she'd been saddled with him ever since.

Before Allana could make up her mind on whether or not to extend an olive branch, Sansin spoke again, changing the topic. "Do you even have any idea what the Heart of Akure is?"

"No." She glanced at him over her shoulder. The torchlight flickered over his pale, chiseled features. "Do you?"

"No. Nyriss was before my time."

"And yet you knew how to deactivate the trap."

"Most temples use that phrase as a password. My order _loved_ staying true to formula— in that respect, they were almost as bad as the Jedi."

"Speaking of that phrase— what did it mean?"

Sansin hesitated for a couple of beats. ""Lead us to the Sith,'" he finally translated, "'if there are any here.'"

Allana shivered.

"You should have waited for your mother," he opined in a tone of mild reproach.

"It'll be fine," she snapped.

They walked on, deeper and deeper into the dark labyrinth that had been carved out by those ancient and long-lost.

*

The _Falcon_ was cruising low over the treetops, slowed down by a torrential downpour. At this pace, it would take them almost twenty standard minutes to reach the coordinates that Allana had transmitted.

"Can you take over?" Kylo asked Rey.

"Sure."

He stood up and she took his place in the pilot seat. Despite the tense urgency of the situation they'd found themselves in, there was a faint smile playing at the corner of her mouth.

"Shall I send you off with my kerchief in case you start crying?" Rey quipped, reaching out to run a soothing hand down his arm.

"You don't have any kerchiefs, my lady," Kylo pointed out. "You're always losing them."

He grabbed his wife's hand and pressed a quick kiss to the back of it, then he left the cockpit.

To talk to his eldest son.

Tristan was sulking on the couch, arms crossed, staring off into space. Kylo's heart ached— it was like seeing his younger self through the span of years, as if time had warped, somehow, past colliding with present and bringing him full circle. All four of his children looked like him— except for their eyes, which were their mother's— but Tristan was the spitting image.

Kylo sat beside the boy, who offered no acknowledgement of his presence. A few minutes ticked by as he pondered what to say. What had _he_ needed to hear when he'd been fifteen? The memories were painful to dredge up, but he examined them, anyway. He owed it to his son— and, in some way, to his father. In this new world that he and his family had fought for— had sacrificed so much to create— the destructive cycles needed to be broken.

He cleared his throat. "You fought well today."

"Did _not,"_ Tristan muttered. "You had to carry me out of there on your back after I was injured. I almost got you killed."

Ah. There it was.

Kylo couldn't deny that his heart melted a little. He opened his mouth to reassure his precious son, but the latter continued in a grumpy tone of voice, "I mean, you're already so old..."

"I believe I can still manage," Kylo replied stiffly. "I am not _completely_ decrepit yet."

The little punk shrugged, lifting his chin in that stubborn, defiant manner that he couldn't have gotten from anyone other than Rey. Another wave of fondness swept through Kylo and he sighed, ruffling Tristan's hair.

"Your old man's got a lot of fight in him left," he told the boy gently. "I will always protect you. I get my strength from wanting to do that."

Tristan shifted away from his touch, the tips of his ears turning pink. He was at that age when parental gestures of affection were embarrassing, and Kylo suddenly felt a rush of gratitude that they were sitting here together. As someone who had grown up away from his parents, he looked forward to spending many more years embarrassing his children at every opportunity.

"I am at fault as well," he admitted. "We need to learn how to fight more seamlessly together— to tighten our formations, to always keep each other covered, things like that. I will make more time to train with you when we get back to Hapes."

Tristan didn't say anything for a while but, finally, he nodded. "Okay." Arms still crossed, he very gingerly bumped his shoulder into Kylo's, leaning against him for the most fleeting of seconds. "Thanks, Dad."

Kylo was not as fluent in the Hapan language as he would have liked, and his children all spoke to him in Basic. But they reserved _Dad_ for special occasions such as these. He smiled, telling himself to shut up and to not ruin the moment, but...

"Assuming you can fit me into your busy schedule, that is," he said. "I hear you and Saehrys Yliri are studying together a lot these days."

"Dad!"

"She's an exceptionally intelligent young woman. More intelligent than her father, at any rate. I am happy that she is helping you with your academic pursuits."

Tristan scowled, his normally pale face as red as a tomato. "I hate it here."

Before either of them could say anything else, the _Falcon_ began its descent. They'd reached Allana's last known location.

*

The purported Lair of the Ghost began at the mouth of a huge cave embedded into the rocky mountainside. Allana's speeder bike was docked nearby, but there was no sign of the _Chume'da_ herself. The rain had slowed to a drizzle, light silvery droplets spattering on Rey's cheek as she approached the cave flanked by Kylo and Tristan, their lightsabers sheathed at their sides. They stopped at the yawning entrance and she closed her eyes, trawling the currents of the Force for any sign of her daughter or of danger.

But the dark side was too strong here. It obscured everything in a thorny mass that threatened to suffocate, and Rey had to withdraw her perception before she could be engulfed entirely.

They would have to go in blind, then.

All of a sudden there was a rumbling that seemed to emanate from within the cave. Kylo, Rey, and Tristan fell back several paces, steadying themselves on the shaking ground. Through the shadows, Rey caught sight of the telltale sapphire blaze of the Skywalker lightsaber heading towards them, moving wildly as if its wielder were running. And then the cave spat out Allana, who quickly extinguished her blade before stumbling into her mother's arms.

"So— good news first," Allana panted. "I know where the Heart of Akure is."

"What's the bad news?" Rey asked.

The rumbling increased. A hulking creature as big as worlds slowly emerged from the cave mouth, splitting the air with a guttural roar. It resembled a rancor with its bulbous head, its squat, frog-like body, and its long and sinewy limbs, but it sported four savage tusks that wreathed its immense, leathery jaws, and its gray-black skin was riddled with cracks through which glowed a substance like magma, like blood. There was something glowing through the flesh of its chest as well, a pulsing red orb that lit up the stormy night.

"The bad news," said Allana, jerking her head back at the beast, "is that it's inside _that."_

Tristan groaned as his parents ignited their lightsabers and stepped in front of him and his sister while the monstrous Sithspawn began to charge. "Why can't we _ever_ have normal family vacations?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Esstran sector](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Esstran_sector).
> 
> [Dromund Kaas](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Dromund_Kaas).
> 
> [Kamat Krote](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Kamat_Krote).
> 
> [Lair of the Ghost](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Lair_of_the_Ghost).
> 
> [Sith war sword](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sith_war_sword).
> 
> [Corusca gem](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Corusca_gem/Legends).
> 
> [Darth Nyriss](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Darth_Nyriss).
> 
> [Tascollan Nebula](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Tascollan_Nebula).
> 
> [Sith Empire](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sith_Empire/Legends).
> 
> [Sansin Koriss](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sansin_Koriss).
> 
> [Akure](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Akure).
> 
> [Sithspawn](https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Sithspawn).


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to clarify something: Ben and Rey do not have ten kids (I'm sure Ben wouldn't have minded, though 🌚). Isolder was saying that Cade and Maia stir up enough trouble for eight whole-ass children and appear to be doing all of it all at the same time xD That having been said, thank you so much for all the bookmarks, comments, and kudos! I'm so happy that you guys are liking this brief return to the LWABOC 'verse thus far! ❤️

Akure's gargantuan size made him slow, which was the only good thing that Rey could think to say about the circumstances at this point. She wove between the creature's legs that thundered around her like colossal pillars, the silvery white blades of her saberstaff slicing with a precision that was more instinctive than it was calculated.

But no luck— the Sithspawn's artificial hide was resistant to plasma beams. It batted her away as if she were little more than an annoying insect, and she grunted as she was slammed against a nearby tree trunk, dropping to the marshy ground with a soft thud.

_"Amilye!"_ Tristan rushed over to her and helped her up, his pale brow knitted in concern.

"I'm fine, darling," Rey assured him. She popped her dislocated shoulder back into place, soothing the ache with a burst of healing energy, and telekinetically summoned the saber hilt that she'd dropped into her palm.

Several feet away, Kylo and Allana had engaged the beast, their respective fighting styles a perfect mirror of the other— all wide-angled swings and powerful thrusts and seamless incorporation of Force techniques. It wasn't long before Rey and Tristan charged into the fray with quick slashes and leaping strikes that seemed to come from everywhere at once. Akure was resistant to lightsaber blows, but not immune. Bit by bit, the imperial family chipped away at the Sithspawn's armor as it thrashed and stomped and knocked them back and tore at them with wickedly sharp claws and snapping fangs.

"This is going to take all night," Kylo complained to Rey after another strike from the creature sent him stumbling into her path.

She smirked up at him. "You said that last week, when you came home tired—"

_"Eww!"_ their children chorused, right before Akure's huge fist bore down upon them and forced them to scatter, a minor earthquake reverberating from the point of impact.

"I don't know if the two of you have noticed," Allana yelled at her parents as she drove her sapphire blade into the beast's knee and spun away before it could retaliate, "but we're fighting a monster here!"

"I mean, if their plan is to make it wither from sheer secondhand embarrassment, it'll probably work," Tristan grumbled, unsheathing the smaller shoto lightsaber that had been attached to his utility belt and following up his sister's attack on Akure with a series of whirlwind, double-edged, emerald green strikes.

Like Rey, Tristan was proficient in dual wielding; unlike her, he  _concentrated_ on it, honing it to an art form. Luke had once remarked that his grandnephew had the potential to be one of the most skilled Jar'Kai practitioners the galaxy had ever seen, and Rey couldn't help but watch with a swell of pride as Tristan made short work of the beast's leg, opening the wound that Allana had inflicted even wider at the same time that she— 

— with a scrunched-up nose and a hearty battle cry—

— _hacked_ the Sithspawn's clawed hand off in a single blow. Akure threw its head back and screamed, more of that strange magma-like substance gushing from its wrist like a fountain of blood.

Kylo and Rey blinked at the rain-spattered scene that had unfolded before them.

_"Cyar'ika,"_ he finally ventured, "I think that our kids might be feral."

"Not my fault," she sniffed. "You once hurled yourself at a TIE fighter, remember?"

The behemoth was limping but still managed to stay upright. With another guttural wail, it swept out its remaining hand, shoving Tristan to the side and closing its long fingers around Allana's waist. She struggled and kicked in vain as she was lifted up into the air, Akire unhinging its jaws as it prepared to bite down.

Kylo  _roared,_ charging at the beast with his scarlet lightsaber ablaze

"And now I guess you're going to hurl yourself at a giant Sithspawn," Rey muttered, shaking her head as she followed her husband.

And the thing was— he actually  _did._ Kylo jumped up onto the notches of their distracted foe's spine, using them as a sort of ladder. He drove the lethal tip of his crossguard blade into the base of Akure's skull with all his strength. It yowled in pain, dropping Allana— Rey stretched out a hand, slowing her daughter's fall with the Force, and with her other hand she  _threw_ her saberstaff at their opponent. The staff separated into two blades in mid-air and spun and shrieked, Rey telekinetically controlling their trajectory so that they lodged themselves into the beast's eyes before joining up again and whizzing back into her palm.

The ground shook as Akure stumbled around blindly while Kylo hung on for dear life. Tristan rushed in to help his father, and between the two of them the already heavily incapacitated creature soon toppled to the ground with a mighty crash. As Rey scrambled over to Allana to check if she had sustained any injuries from being squeezed by that clawed, monstrous fist, she saw her husband and her son clamber up onto the beast's torso, driving their lightsabers into the fiery cracks wreathed through the armored hide and slicing its chest open. Kylo plunged a gloved hand into the fresh cavity and drew out the large, ruby-like gem that pulsed and glowed with dark energy in the lightning streaked night; deprived of its main power source, Akure fell silent and still, and Rey heaved a sigh of relief.

They were one step closer to stopping Darth Nyriss' awakening.

As it turned out, however, the Queen Mother of the Hapes Consortium had relaxed too soon. The Force...  _left._ There was no other way to describe it. A chill of very real fear went down Rey's spine as she met Kylo's gaze across the distance between them, both of them knowing what it meant, both of them knowing that their chances of protecting their children had slimmed considerably.

Kylo was the one who moved first. He flung the Heart of Akure at Rey, who caught it and in turn pressed it into Allana's hand. "Run."

"I'm not leaving you and Tristan and  _Atta!"_ the  _Chume'da_ said angrily.

"If they destroy the Heart, it's over." Rey pushed her daughter away. "Go."

But it was too late. Before Allana could so much as move, dozens of the Sith Eternal's Mobile Defense Units converged upon their location— bulky vehicles hovering several feet above the ground on the whine of repulsorlift engines surrounded them, bristling with laser turrets and rocket pods. Each one sported an ysalamiri cage, the lizard-like animal within projecting an invisible bubble that extended up to thirty-three feet in diameter and neutralized the Force.

_**"Drop your weapons! Hands over your heads!"** _ boomed the pilot of the lead Mobile Defense Unit.  _**"Come quietly, or we'll mow you down where you stand!"** _

*

Needless to say, this was  _ not  _ how Allana had thought this day was going to go. Her parents slowly lowered their lightsabers to the earth, careful not to make any sudden movements, and she and Tristan followed suit; judging from the stories she'd heard of their past escapades, she had no doubt that her mother and father would have been fighting their way out of this by now, lack of the Force be damned, but they had her and her brother to worry about. Allana's fingers tightened around the Heart of Akure as her mind raced, searching for possible methods to keep it out of the Sith Eternal's clutches, but it seemed to be an impossibility in this situation...

_**"You there! Get up! Hands in the air!"** _ barked a voice from inside another one of the Mobile Defense Units, the pilot obviously having noticed that she had yet to straighten up from depositing her lightsaber on the ground.

She felt a twinge of annoyance. She was Allana Solo-Djo of Hapes, heir to the Dragon Throne. She wasn't a  _ you there.  _ The hand that was holding the Heart of Akure was buried in the long grass, out of sight, but she couldn't conceal it for much longer...

"Give it to me, Your Grace," said a voice that was as cold and as fine as silver, and low in her ear.

Sansin Koriss was crouched beside her, not bound by the laws of realspace, unaffected by the ysalamiri nets. Visible and audible to her alone.

_ How do I know that you won't betray me?  _ she asked him. He was Sith, after all.

"You don't," came his soft, somewhat rueful response. "But I do believe that you've run out of other options— and out of time."

_**"Get up!"** _ the Mobile Defense Unit pilot repeated tersely, the command punctuated by a whirring sound as one of the laser turrets took aim at her.  _**"I won't tell you again!"** _

"Allana." Her mother sounded like she was begging and near tears, and something in Allana's gut twisted at hearing such a tone from such a strong, proud woman.  _ "Please."  _ Several feet away, her father the Emperor was staring at her, ashen-faced, the same wordless plea in his dark eyes.

Allana took a deep breath. Took a chance. She passed the Heart of Akure to Sansin, and he vanished with it, into— into  _ wherever  _ ghosts came from.

The  _ Chume'da  _ stood up. Slowly.

_**"Stun them,"** _ ordered the lead unit, and then there were red laser bolts hurtling from out of the shadows, and then there was nothing.

*

Kylo woke up behind bars, on a floor of cold metal.

His first priority was his family. He sat up and looked around, relaxing just the slightest bit when he saw that Rey, Tristan, and Allana were accounted for— albeit stuck in a cramped, square cage same he was, with a smaller ysalamiri cage perched on top to keep their Force abilities contained. Like them, Kylo's wrists and ankles were bound with iron chains wound tightly enough to make limb movement impossible.

The room that they were in was a vast stone chamber illuminated by flickering torchlight. Obsidian walls inscribed with runes that detailed chants and spells in the ancient language of the Sith surrounded an immense, jagged throne on which sat a human skull that had been weathered and yellowed by the passage of time. The Sith Eternal had amassed in this chamber; there were dozens of them, clad in hooded black robes, prostrated before the throne in neat rows. There were grunts, too, standing on the sidelines and wearing blood-red armor that was otherwise identical to the stormtroopers of old— Kylo had no doubt that these were the ones who'd been piloting the Mobile Defense Units.

The robed devotees were praying in a guttural, rhythmic tongue. The more Kylo stared at the throne that they were worshipping, the more he could distinguish a feminine outline shimmering faintly in the air, flickering in and out of existence as if it were breaking through from another plane, every molecule searching for a foothold in this one.

Tristan was in the cage nearest his, and currently tossing a defiant hazel-eyed glare at two of the hooded figures that were approaching him. They wore ornate silver masks and were eerily similar in build, and there was something familiar about them despite the garments that covered them from head to toe.

"You're making a  _ huge  _ mistake," Tristan warned. "If you kill us, do you know who'll be left to seek vengeance?" He leaned forward, his long nose almost poking through the gaps between the bars of the cage, and Kylo could only look on in something like amazement at his son's apparent inability to learn when it was best to shut up. "The twins," Tristan hissed, answering his own question. "My younger siblings. They fear nothing and no one. They  _ will  _ rain destruction upon your house."

One of the hooded figures laughed, and Kylo instantly knew who it was. "What a coincidence," she purred.

"We're twins, too," said the other figure, and they both ripped off their masks to reveal the identical faces underneath.

Kylo suppressed a groan. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Rey start to put her head in her hands as if warding off a migraine— only to remember at the last minute that her wrists were tied together by the heavy iron manacles.

"Nice to see you, Lord Ren," Meridia remarked, glancing over at Kylo's cage. "Your kid looks like you. Back when you were a padawan, I mean."

"A bit more freckly," Mephala smirked at Tristan. "Not sure if it's an improvement."

"Meridia. Mephala. It's been a while." Kylo kept his tone as calm as possible. "I can't say I'm surprised that you've chosen to throw your lot in with these cultists."

"Good." Meridia sneered at him. "You  _ shouldn't  _ be surprised. After you betrayed us, where else could we run but into the arms of the Sith Eternal, here at the very edge of the galaxy? We have waited and waited, and now the stars align."

"The boy," said Mephala, "spoke of vengeance—"

"'The boy'?" Tristan scoffed. "I'm the  _ crown prince—" _

"— and this is ours." Mephala looked annoyed to have been interrupted, but she continued determinedly, studying Kylo's shackled form with something like glee. "We will awaken Nyriss, and in doing so destroy everything that you and your wife have built. All worlds shall bow to the dark side once more."

"Perhaps we should start with the princeling?" Meridia suggested brightly.

"Don't you  _ dare  _ touch my son!" Rey shouted, her eyes spitting fire from where she was trapped in her own cage, struggling with her restraints.

"We don't take orders from you anymore,  _ Ereneda."  _ Mephala gestured at the Sith troopers; several of them marched closer to Tristan's cage while others went to Allana's, blasters at the ready. "Actually, just for that, I'm inclined to make you lose  _ both  _ spawn at the same time."

Kylo swallowed the lump in his throat. This was bad.

And it seemed that Tristan was set on making it even worse.

"This is  _ clearly  _ an argument between old people," the boy declared. "Lots of bad blood here, I'm sensing, but my sister and I have nothing to do with it. You should just let us go and duke it out with Their Majesties— you know, like  _ real  _ warriors."

Meridia and Mephala narrowed their eyes at him. Kylo opened his mouth to attempt to deflect their attention from Tristan, but that was when he realized—

— that Allana was being _suspiciously_ quiet—

— that, although Tristan was looking at the two darksiders, his line of sight appeared to be aligned more squarely with the cage that held his sister—

Eighteen years of being a father had given Kylo a sixth sense as to when his children were up to something. He glanced over at Allana; the rest of her expression was carefully blank but she was staring across at Tristan intensely. They were communicating as only siblings could— in silence, in gazes, without the need for anything as supernatural as Force sensitivity. It was something that Meridia and Mephala would probably have caught on to, had their backs not been turned to Allana.

Tristan was mouthing off as a  _ distraction. _

"We're not letting you go, Your Highness," Meridia told Tristan. "What better way to make your parents endure the most  _ exquisite  _ suffering than to kill you while they're forced to watch? Now, why don't you stop being a waste of oxygen and use your last words to tell us where the Heart of Akure is?"

Kylo blinked, confused. He and his family had surely been searched while they were unconscious. If the Heart hadn't been found on Allana— then  _ where was it? _

A suspicion began to take root. He looked at his daughter again. She was breathing in and out slowly, meditatively.

Preparing herself.

"The Heart?" Tristan cocked his head. "I must have dropped it, I can be terribly clumsy sometimes."

"Nice try," snapped Meridia. "Our men searched the area and found nothing. You hid it away somewhere."

"Now why would I do that?" Tristan drawled. "You know I only exist to make your life easier."

As her twin sister fumed, Mephala glanced at the throne. The woman— Nyriss, Kylo supposed— was a little more corporeal now, her cruel features very nearly discernible. The Sith Eternal's ghastly chorus was increasing in volume. The air crackled with the dark side of the Force.

The cult had waited many years for conditions to be just right. For the dual eclipse of Dromund Kaas' two moons that occurred only once in each century, causing a nexus of power to spread through the planet that was strong enough to bring about the resurrection of one of its old lords.

"Even if they have the Heart, it's too late," Mephala said. "She's almost here."

"Right." Meridia shot one last glare at Tristan, before telling the Sith troopers surrounding his cage, "Open fire."

Several things happened all at once.

As the Sith troopers discharged their blaster rifles into Tristan's cage, the ysalamiri container on top of Allana's prison was flung several feet away by some unseen force. With her powers returned to her, she sent out a massive wave of energy that knocked the Sith troopers surrounding her onto their backs and seized control of every single laser bolt pelting towards her brother; several of these were redirected onto the troopers that had discharged them, while others crashed into the remaining ysalamiri cages in bursts of red.

The Force surged through Kylo Ren like a wave. Triumphant, vindictive. The iron shackles that were restraining him dropped to the floor and the door of his cage swung open and he stood up; Tristan had freed himself as well and was wrestling a blaster out of a Sith trooper's hands, teeth clenched and shocks of dark hair falling across his forehead, while the screaming and the red-armored bodies being flung every which way across the room indicated that Rey and Allana were holding their own.

Meridia and Mephala ignited their lightsabers, barking out instructions. Most of the cult continued their chanting, Nyriss' form growing solider with each moment that passed, but there were others that broke off from their neat rows and joined the fray, converging upon Kylo in a blur of various sharp, deadly-looking weapons.

"Dad!" Tristan yelled over the volley of blaster fire. "Dad, hang in there— don't strain yourself, I'm going to save you—"

A smirk crept onto Kylo's lips. "Watch and learn, kid." He punched the first of the Sith Eternal to reach him, plucking the man's curved blade out of his grasp and hurling it straight into the next opponent's throat. "Watch and learn."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m adding another chapter because this one wraps up the main plot and I want there to be some breathing room before a few happy reunions and the soft old married couple smut 🥺 I’ve been concentrating on meeting the deadlines for a couple of original writing pieces this past month but I’ll try to get the last installment of this fic out ASAP. Hope that you guys will like this update and that you’ll let me know what you think! ❤️

_They're safe. My family is safe._

Those were the words that echoed through the core of Rey's very being as she and Allana fought back to back, the war blades that they'd wrestled from their now unconscious opponents slicing through air and armor. Relief was a wild song in her chest, lending a renewed determination to her movements.

_My family is safe._

Granted, _safe_ was a bit of a misnomer, considering that they were neck-deep in enemies and a legendary Lord of the Sith was on the cusp of resurrection several feet away. But she and her husband and their children were unbound and on their feet, with full command of the Force, and that was all that mattered.

This kriffing cult would never know what hit them.

Rey glanced at the throne as she pulled her blade out of a fallen trooper's chest. She could _see_ Nyriss now, the phantom becoming more and more solid with each second of frantic chanting that passed. The robed, prostrated devotees would not be swayed from their goal even though there was a battle happening right behind them.

_"Amilye,_ we have the Heart," Allana panted, one arm wrapped around a Sith trooper's neck from behind. She knocked him out with the Force, the wrist of her free hand snapping at his temple, and he slumped to the ground. "It's with Sansin—"

Rey's eyes widened. There was a _lot_ to unpack with regards to her daughter and the ghost who was somehow bound to her, but now wasn't the time. "Go!" she ordered, and Allana ran for the throne. Three of the cult's soldiers attempted to give chase, but they were blasted backwards off their feet by the wave of telekinetic energy that Rey swept in their direction.

A fourth trooper unleashed several rounds from his blaster rifle; Rey dodged and spun and sent each laser shard flying where she needed them, taking out the three opponents on the floor and the one wielding the blaster. The last bolt jetted clear across the room, hitting the trooper who was advancing on Kylo square in the middle of his spine.

Holding a Massassi lanvarok in one hand and a vibroblade in the other, Kylo blinked at the man who had suddenly crumpled to his feet in a heap of red armor. Then he shot Rey that very rare and very faint lopsided, roguish grin that never failed to make her heart stop even after all these years. "Thank you, darling," he called out—

— only to have to leap back in a decidedly ungainly manner as Mephala lunged at him, taking advantage of his distraction to try and chop his head off with her lightsaber.

_Nerfherder._ Rey shook her head as she dispatched the last Sith trooper on her side of the room and rushed over to help him. _You're lucky I already married you._

_I_ am _very lucky,_ Kylo retorted through the pathway of their bond as he and Mephala dueled, and Rey had to bite her lip against a shy little smile. That expression hadn't quite faded from her face when Meridia's lightsaber clanged against her war blade, and the former Knight of Ren squinted at her in disbelief.

"Hey, Queen Mother!" Meridia barked. "There's a battle going on here!"

"Welcome to my life," Tristan grunted from where he was currently facing off against two Sith troopers.

Tristan was actually holding his own, defending himself with whatever weapons were within reach— including the ones that were still in the grips of his enemies. Judging from the yelps of pain that resounded from the opposite end of the vast chamber, Allana was also dealing some serious damage to the cultists' ranks. _My kids are amazing,_ Rey thought. She couldn't help but beam with pride even as she and Meridia traded blows, gliding across the floor in a deadly dance.

*

"Oh, so _now_ you decide to fight!" Allana snapped at the robed figures who had sprung to their feet and charged at her with curved glass daggers, blocking her path to Nyriss.

Only a few of them engaged her at any given time. The rest stayed where they were, chanting in that ghastly chorus that was needed to complete the ritual. But, whenever she cut one down, another rose to take their place.

This wasn't going to work. She would tire herself out long before she managed to reach the throne.

But if there was anything she'd learned from her parents, Allana thought, gritting her teeth, it was that she had to _try._ Sometimes, trying was all that one person could do.

"Make sure you don't get stabbed," Sansin told her. He was guarding her back, unseen by anyone else. "These glass daggers are _shikkar,_ designed to break off and leave the blade embedded in the body. A most painful death."

"That's really helpful advice," Allana snarled, dodging and deflecting, her free hand shooting out to grasp at the Force, to shove and to stun. "Just— really useful. 'Don't get stabbed.' Thank you for that."

"I let you get away with far too much, Your Grace." Sansin was aggrieved. "People used to talk to me with _respect."_

"Well, now I'm the only one you can talk to," she pointed out with a smirk. "So you'd better get used to it."

In spite of the burst of renewed, somewhat spiteful energy that bickering with him always gave her, it wasn't long before she started to get overwhelmed. The ranks of the Sith Eternal kept attacking, and Nyriss' shadow grew over the stone tiles as the dual eclipse reached its peak in the starless heavens above.

*

As long as she had her lightsaber while Rey made do with a war sword that was resistant but not immune to the scarlet plasma beam, Meridia would always have the upper hand.

No sooner had that thought crossed Rey's mind when a forceful, wide-angled slash from her adversary caught her sword right where the metal was starting to chip, severing the blade in half. Leaving Rey holding nothing but the hilt and a jagged stub that couldn't have killed a baby chooba.

Rey thought she heard Kylo and Tristan calling out her name. Meridia's eyes gleamed in triumph as she made to strike one last, lethal blow.

_Now,_ Teneniel Djo whispered through the veil between worlds.

And the Force wrapped around Rey like a whirlwind. Spinning faster than the eye could see, spinning faster and faster still until each thread of it was awash in swirling rivers of white-hot energy that crackled and sparked.

It was the Spell of Storm. Teneniel's pet skill. One that Rey had mastered only a few years ago, under Augwynne's tutelage. One that Meridia wasn't prepared for.

The darksider shrieked as the electric currents raced up the plasma beam of her saber, frying the circuitry lodged within the hilt. She wasn't able to let go in time; lightning flooded in through her fingertips, surging through her veins, and she passed out, her eyes rolling into the back of her head, her limp form hitting the ground with a thump.

Rey's jaw clenched with the effort of controlling the lightning. The world had turned blue-black at the edges, pulsing in flashes of white like a skipping heartbeat. She seized the energy and she _pushed—_

— and the currents lashed out from her and through Mephala and the remaining red-armored troopers and the Sith Eternal like a tidal wave.

The chanting came to an abrupt halt, followed only by the swift sound of several bodies falling unconscious all at once. Rey— along with Kylo and Tristan— turned to watch as Allana made it to the throne. The glowing Heart of Akure appeared in her hand and she plunged it, in one swift motion, into the spectral Nyriss' chest.

There was a bone-chilling, guttural screech as the Lord of the Sith was consumed by an explosion of radiance.

Resurrection was tricky business. The conditions had to be just right, the amount of energy used had to be balanced just so. Introducing another power source into the mix at such a late stage was a surefire way to cause an overload.

Allana staggered backward, releasing the Heart. It disappeared in the blinding conflagration, taking Nyriss with it, and soon all that was left on the throne was the yellowed skull.

_Stars,_ Rey thought into the sudden silence that dropped over the hall. She couldn't remember the last time a mission had gone so— well, not _smoothly,_ per se, but _relatively_ smoothly. Her first thought was that she should bring Allana and Tristan on these galaxy-saving types of trips more often. Her second thought was that she was going to make them hang up all their adventuring gear and weapons the moment they got home and never allow them to ever again leave Hapes for as long as she lived.

Rey jumped as a pair of strong hands clamped around her waist and spun her around. She saw only the glint in Kylo's dark eyes before he slanted a hard kiss over her mouth, crushing her to him so tightly that he was practically lifting her off her feet.

"Why do they always have to do that after every mission?" Rey distantly heard Tristan complain to his sister as the latter hurried back to them.

"It's a mystery," Allana sighed. "Let's just find our lightsabers and get out of here before these jokers start waking up."

"If you ask me," said Tristan, his voice sounding a little farther away as he and Allana searched the chamber, "the two biggest jokers in the room are currently eating each other's faces."

Rey chuckled against Kylo's lips. "He gets that from you, you know."

"He got my ears, too. And my nose. But everything else—" Her husband nuzzled at her cheek— "everything else is you. And that's how I know he's going to turn out all right."

*

Rey spent the first several hours of the journey home fast asleep— for good reason, Kylo thought. The sheer amount of focus, willpower, and muscle control it had taken to not only create enough lightning to knock out all those troopers and cultists but also to bend it to her will... he would have made her rest even if she hadn't wanted to.

But, stars, she'd looked magnificent, wielding all that power like chains of brilliant white, her eyes blazing with the wild light of Dathomir. Once he got her alone in their quarters at the Fountain Palace—

"I think _Atta'_ s daydreaming about _Amilye_ again," Tristan announced in long-suffering tones.

Kylo tore his gaze from the starlines racing beyond the viewport. "You're supposed to be co-piloting, not concerning yourself with me," he huffed.

"And _you're_ the pilot, _Atta,"_ Allana pointed out. She was leaning against the back of Tristan's chair, tapping away at a datapad. "You're supposed to be flying the ship, not mooning over your wife."

"Don't _you_ have a ghost boyfriend to moon over?" Tristan challenged his sister.

She smacked his arm. "Go make me a sandwich. I'm hungry."

Scowling, Tristan reluctantly unbuckled his seatbelt and got to his feet and stomped out of the cockpit. For what seemed like the millionth time, Kylo wondered if his daughter was a bully or if his son was simply a dutiful younger brother underneath all the blustering.

Allana made herself comfortable in the co-pilot seat. Kylo busied himself with monitoring the dashboard. They sat in silence for several long moments, the _Falcon_ sailing on through the depths of space.

Finally, he cleared his throat. "Your— er—"

"He's not my anything," Allana was quick to interrupt. "We're just... stuck together."

Kylo grimaced, but he was determined to see this through. "Regardless, he did a good job. You may thank him for us."

"Sure, if I can remember," Allana said flippantly, a bored expression on those sullen features that had most of the younger nobles clutching at their hearts whenever she walked by.

"Are you sure you do not wish to be a sage?" Kylo asked hopefully. "It's a very noble profession, and don't you feel that it would be nice to live high up on the mountains?"

"Away from men, you mean?"

He shrugged. "Just think about it."

Allana snickered, leaning over to kiss his cheek. "You're so funny, _Atta."_

_I was being perfectly serious,_ Kylo grumbled to himself.

Tristan returned with three sandwiches. He gave one to his sister and somewhat shyly offered another to Kylo, who took it with a grateful nod. It was only when he bit into it that he realized how famished he actually was.

"Should we have killed all those remaining cultists?" Tristan asked. "Won't they just wake up and, like, start trying to take over the galaxy again?"

"It wouldn't have been right to kill them in cold blood," Allana mused. "Even if it's going to be a headache for the future, I think that you should also look at what's in front of you and take that into account."

Kylo agreed with his eldest, although he was not unaware that he'd held markedly different views years and years ago. And he was proud of the fact that it hadn't even crossed Tristan's mind to wonder if they should have slain all those people lying unconscious until much, much later. Perhaps Meridia and Mephala would crop up once again somewhere down the line, but, for now, all that mattered was that he and Rey were raising good kids.

The Emperor of the known galaxy sat back and enjoyed his sandwich. The bread was dry bordering on stale and he didn't even want to _think_ about how long the ham had been sitting in the _Falcon'_ s conservator, but his son had made it for him and he was eating with his children as they journeyed home, and because of those things it was one of the best meals he'd ever had.

*

"I'm just so glad to be back at the palace," Rey declared as she and Kylo strode down the ship's ramp, Tristan and Allana bringing up the rear. "Isn't it funny how I say that now?"

The corner of her husband's mouth lifted in a faint but affectionate smile. "This place has grown on us. And, besides, we left two little ragamuffins here."

"I've missed them so much. I can't wait to see them and squish them and—" Rey broke off as the floor of the private hangar began to tremble.

That was the only warning everyone inside got before a fambaa burst in through the entryway.

Standing five meters at the shoulder and fifteen meters in length from its snout to the tip of its tail, the green-scaled quadruped thundered through the hangar, knocking aside the imperial family's starfighters as it went. Riding on its back were Cade and Maia, screeching with glee.

As Kylo, Rey, Tristan, and Allana stood frozen in shock, Isolder hurried in, accompanied by several palace guards and a number of men and women clad in the staff uniforms of the local zoo.

"I only wanted to keep them entertained so they'd stop causing trouble! Just for one day!" Isolder groaned. He was using a cane now, and Allana hurried over to get him to slow down before he hurt himself. "I didn't know they'd be able to destroy the zoo fencing— how could I have known—"

_"Charge!"_ Maia screamed, pointing a chubby finger forward, her braids bouncing with every galloping step that the fambaa took.

These were large, powerful creatures. On Naboo, they were used by the Gungans to carry deflector shield generators during battle. As far as Rey was aware, fambaa usually had placid temperaments despite their size, but this one seemed grumpy considering that it had just been set loose in an unfamiliar environment.

Kylo shot Rey a wry glance as their twin children darted past them on the massive beast, chased by guards and zookeepers. "You were saying, my love?"

Rey pinched the bridge of her nose. "Ben, please do something."

"Yes, I've got it."

As she watched him run to place himself in the fambaa's path, she reflected on how she had once thought that no three words would ever sound sweeter than _I love you._ But she'd been proven wrong over the years. _I've got it,_ her husband had often said— when a baby was crying in the dead of night, when one of the kids was acting up and she had mountains of paperwork or an important meeting, when she was sick or tired and their twins were wreaking havoc. _I've got it_ meant that they were a team, that they were both in this for the long haul.

It had taken a while for Rey to let go of the belief that she could depend only on herself— but, once she had, how sweet it had been. How grateful she was for it still.

The fambaa reached the wall at the opposite end of the hangar. Kylo was already waiting for it when it turned around, roaring. He didn't so much as flinch even as the guards and zookeepers jumped back in terror, and he reached out a hand inches from the fambaa's snout, channeling the currents of the Force in order to calm it down.

The beast subsided with a huff. It bowed its head so that it was almost touching the floor, and Cade and Maia were sent rolling down the great scaled neck, yelling out their laughter. Like a couple of bowling balls, the two five-year-olds tumbled into their father's waiting arms. They wasted no time in climbing up his shoulders, their grubby little hands clinging to his neck and tugging at his hair and his ears as he walked back to Rey.

_"Atta!"_ Maia shouted, snuggling into Kylo's chest. "Are we going to K'Farri now? To see the crystals?"

"Crystals! Crystals! Crystals!" Cade chanted, drumming his palms against Kylo's cheek.

"We're not going," said Kylo. "You didn't behave."

The twins blinked.

And then they started _wailing._

Kylo passed a sobbing Maia over to Rey as the zookeepers led the now docile fambaa out of the hangar, murmuring deferential greetings and thanks to the Emperor and the Queen Mother as they passed by. Rey kissed Maia on the cheek, and then leaned over to do the same to Cade as he howled into Kylo's tunic.

"What we _are_ going to do," Rey told her youngest children, "is help the zoo fix their fence that you broke. Come along now, little gremlins."

Cade and Maia cried even harder as their parents carried them out of the hangar. "Stop it, you two," Allana scolded them as she and Isolder kept pace. "You know what you did."

"You're a meanie!" Cade retorted hotly through a wet gurgle of sniffs and tears. "I hope your ghost boyfriend breaks up with you!"

"He's _not_ my boyfriend—"

"I hate my life," Tristan mumbled as he trailed after his family.


End file.
